The control of functions of a vehicle, e.g. the control of automatic transmissions, lamp functions, motor functions, etc. occurs increasingly more frequently via control devices, e.g. electronic control devices such as electronic transmission controls and similar so-called ECUs (electronic control unit). Control units present in current vehicles are connected to one another via different system busses such as CAN busses, Ethernet, etc. to form a so-called vehicle bus system. The control devices are disposed on printed circuit boards, which also have other interfaces to actuators or sensors, for example. This enables a control of the actual state of the system, such that in the case of a deviation from the target state, a control or regulation of the engine, solenoid valves, etc. can be initiated by means of corresponding actuators, in order to obtain a correction of the system state. The control of the system state occurs by means of sensors, for example.
Integrated control devices, as well as add-on and removable control devices are known from the prior art. Add-on and removable control devices have the advantage that, due to the limited number of components for the control device itself, they can be developed and produced relatively inexpensively. On the other hand, additional components are needed in order to enable a control of a vehicle, for example. These components are cables, wiring harnesses, or plug connections, for example. The numerous such additional individual components increase the chance of individual components malfunctioning, or become damaged during maintenance or repair work. Thus, through additional individual components, not only is more space needed, but also, there may be a drop in quality as a result of the increased probability of malfunctions. Moreover, there are higher costs for the overall device as a result of the necessity of purchasing more individual components. These problems are resolved in part through integrated control devices. With these control devices, as few components as possible are added on, such that a high level of coordination of the individual components to one another is possible, by means of which a high level of integration density is obtained.
Printed circuit boards for electronic function control for a vehicle must fulfill different criteria regarding their robustness. By way of example, it may be the case that the printed circuit boards, having the electronics located thereon, such as a control device, are placed in the hydraulic module of the vehicle, and are thus exposed, for example, to transmission fluid or hot (transmission or motor) oil. Because of this, it is necessary to protect the sensitive electronics on the printed circuit boards. In order to protect these electronics, printed circuit boards are encapsulated, such that the connections, such as the actuator connections and on-board electrical system plugs are protected from external effects. This is obtained in that plug connections or plugs and wiring harnesses between the printed circuit boards and the actuators and the on-board electrical system or bus system are attached to the printed circuit boards, which prevent fluids from coming in contact with the printed circuit boards and thus the electronics. The disadvantage with this is that plug connections or complex wiring harnesses require a lot of space, and furthermore, the system architecture is complex, expensive and prone to error.
For this reason, it is one objective of this disclosure to provide a printed circuit board for electronic function control for a vehicle, which overcomes the known disadvantages. Preferably, the function control is the transmission control of the vehicle.
This object is achieved through the features of claims 1 and 7. Advantageous designs are the subject matter of the dependent Claims.